


A Lawful Killing

by koalathebear



Category: Homeland
Genre: F/M, Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-16
Updated: 2015-01-16
Packaged: 2018-03-07 19:41:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3180788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koalathebear/pseuds/koalathebear
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I was curious about how in season 3, <a href="http://koalathebear.livejournal.com/1487384.html">Quinn’s suddenly part of Saul’s team</a>.  This is set just after my Galvez fic <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/1152201">A Member of the Team”</a> and is a series of missing scenes between season 2 and season 3.  Not very shippy sorry.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Lawful Killing

**Author's Note:**

> To see the rough 'order' in which my missing scenes fics are supposed to go, check out [this list](http://koalathebear.livejournal.com/1480242.html).

When Quinn hears that Carrie’s been found, he doesn’t even try to analyse the relief that floods over him. He’s just glad she’s safe and goes in search of her. 

“Hey Quinn,” she tells him, but her voice is distracted, her thoughts clearly on other things, namely Brody.

“Saul says you think Brody’s innocent – of the bombing anyway,” he corrects himself meticulously.

Carrie nodded. “He was with me … he said that someone moved his car… made it look like he did it.”

“You helped him escape.” It's not a question.

She says nothing but doesn’t try to insult him by lying to him.

“You could have run away with him,” Quinn points out coolly.

“I promised him I’d clear his name. I’m gonna find the real fuckers who did this, Quinn,” she tells him fiercely, her face determined and resolute. Nicholas Brody couldn’t not have found a more relentless and stubborn advocate. “Saul says you’re going to help.” This is also not a question - or a request.

*

They attend Galvez’s funeral together with Saul. Quinn drives her there, glancing over from time to time at her.

“You ok?”

“No … not really. Danny was a good guy … great analyst … great guy …”

“Were you two friends?” he asks her curiously.

Carrie closes her eyes and leans against the head-rest. “I’m a fuck-up, Quinn. I don’t really have friends.”

He knows the feeling.

At the funeral, he listens as Saul speaks – eloquent as always, every sigh and every gesture conveying sympathy. Carrie also says a few words about Galvez … Danny … She’s more awkward than Saul, more hesitant but perhaps more sincere. Quinn watches how formally she interacts with Galvez’s family but he knows that she’s genuinely sad at the loss of the young analyst.

The three of them attend Estes’ funeral together and Quinn sees the daggers being shot in Carrie’s direction by Estes’ ex-wife.

“Don’t ask,” she tells him tersely and he shakes his head.

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You’re giving me that look again.”

“That’s just my face,” he tells her and it’s true. Now that the Brody surveillance job is done, Quinn’s back to being himself. The garrulous, wise-cracking analyst is gone for the most part and he goes back to being his quiet, watchful self, volunteering information - and wit - only if prompted.

He doesn’t bother to tell her not to bother wasting her time being sad about Estes - that the guy was an asshole anyway. 

*

“I’ve agreed to Saul’s request, Peter,” Dar Adal tells him coolly,”But I don’t need to remind you - don’t ever mistake your allegiances. You report to me. I want to know everything that Saul asks you to do for him.”

“Thought that you two were allies now,” Quinn remarks as the two of them stand by the lake staring out at the water. 

He's come to this meeting the way he always does when summoned by his master, but today there’s a faint flicker of resentment. He and Dar Adal aren’t a team – they never have been, and the more he works with Saul and Carrie, the more he dislikes Adal's 'management style'.

“Call it a marriage of convenience, Peter – but we must remain ever vigilant. Just keep me posted,” Dar Adal tells him and Quinn stands and watches him leave, eyes shuttered and wintery. 

Dar Adal sees him as an attack dog, a weapon and for much of his life, Quinn has been happy to be just that. He doesn’t try to assess what’s different now. 

*

A month after the Langley bombing, Quinn finds himself in odd position of becoming Saul’s right hand man by default. “Take a seat, Peter,” Saul will invite him and the two will exchange pleasantries first, Saul will lean back in his seat and muse a little before they start talking shop.

At first, when Saul asks him his opinion on something, he’s a little startled but he’s happy to answer, elaborating when Saul asks him for more details. “You have good instincts, Peter - I trust your judgment.”

He listens intently as Saul thinks aloud. They workshop theories, potential measures to counter the things that have taken place. The Agency is under attack and Saul is trying to resist the siege mentality that has developed within much of the organisation.

"They want someone to blame, Peter - none of this will go away until they find that someone."

He sees very little of Carrie during this time. He assumes she's chasing down her own leads, having her own meetings with Saul. He keeps light tabs on her just to the extent necessary to know that she's all right but keeps his focus on the tasks that Saul gives him - research, surveillance and cultivating contacts. He finds that he continues to thrive at the work. The only downside is the obligatory reporting to Dar Adal. He keeps the reports high level and innocuous, detailed enough to satisfy Dar Adal but general enough to not betray Saul's confidence.

*

Quinn feels a sense of flatness when Dar Adal and Saul take him aside after the group briefing and tell him that he’s the operative who has been entrusted with the Tin Man mission in Caracas. While not surprised, he is aware of a slight sting that might be disappointment.

“Your existing contacts in Venezuela will be invaluable,” Saul tells him, his eyes shrewd and piercing behind his glasses. 

After Dar Adal leaves his office, Saul tells him,”Please stay a moment.” Quinn sits back down, posture tense and alert.

“This isn’t why I asked you to join the team, Peter,” he tells him. Quinn’s face remains expressionless. “We need all of your skills – this is just one of them. One that I would have preferred not to ask you to use again … but we are in a war and we are losing.”

“And I’m a soldier," Quinn comments dryly.

“Your target - Tin Man is a non-combatant – but you know what he does," Saul tells him earnestly.

Quinn gives a short laugh, completely devoid of any humour. “Saul – I don’t make the call on the legality of a kill. There are people well above my pay grade who assess whether killing the target can be justified.”

“And I don’t believe that’s true, Peter,” Saul tells him, his dark eyes fierce. “The terrorists cannot function without their network … the target is as culpable as the bomber who straps a vest to his chest and kills a crowd of innocents. He needs to be removed.”

“Saul – if you’re asking me if I’m ok with doing my job, you don’t have to worry,” Quinn tells him, rising to his feet. “I won’t let you down.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” Saul tells him.

“Are you worried about my immortal soul, Saul?” Quinn asks him, brows lifted. “I went past the point of no return a long, fucking time ago. As did you.” Saul looks startled and Quinn shrugs.

“The jargon ... the euphemisms make you feel better. Tin Man? Target? Removal? In my line of work, you call a spade a spade. His name is Cedeño. I use the word kill because it reminds me that I’m killing a human being. I’m taking a life that I don’t really have a fucking right to take. I use the real words so that I never risk forgetting the seriousness of what I'm doing …” Saul stares at him. “And neither should you," Quinn tells him before he walks out.


End file.
